I grew up in the 1950s and ‘60s, an era when the disciplines of the natural sciences were gaining ascendancy. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear weapons had brought World War II to a close; plastics like nylon had just been invented; transistors and solid state electronics were just taking over from vacuum tubes; Watson and Crick had discovered the molecular structure of DNA and RNA, providing a chemical basis for genetics and heredity; and the first human heart transplants were taking place. I was captivated! And hooked for life!
My religious tradition was not afraid of science; in fact dozens of the leading figures in scientific discovery were Catholic clergymen: e.g., Gregor Mendel, the founder of genetics, was an Augustinian monk; Georges Lemaitre – a Belgian priest – first advanced the big bang theory; Andrew Gordon, who made the first electric motor, was a Benedictine monk; the volcanologist Guiseppi Mercalli who proposed the Mercalli scale for measuring earthquakes was an Italian priest, as was Giovanni Battista Venturi who discovered the Venturi Effect in fluid mechanics; paleontologist and evolutionist Pierre Teilhard de Chardin was a Jesuit.
The Jesuit high schools I attended (Campion College, and St George’s College for sixth form) had well-equipped science laboratories and qualified teaching staff who (at the time) were mostly Jesuits. I completed my first degree in chemistry and zoology at UWI in 1977, and still use my natural science background in my environmental work.
Science (the ‘S’ in STEM education) is basically a way of “knowing” (scio is a Latin word meaning “I know”); philosophically science is objective (it seeks to take the “I” – the subject – out of it), empirical (it relies on data for verification), and positivist (it reasons from observed data using logic). The scientific method of knowing the stuff that science can know is valid and reliable, and worthy of confidence.
GOOD ADVICE
This is one reason why “follow the science” is good advice. It really means to follow the scientific method, but it also means to stick to the conclusions arrived at by the scientific method.
In Genetics 101 we learn that “genotype leads to phenotype”. “Phenotype” refers to the observable physical properties of an organism, including the organism’s appearance, development, and behaviour. An organism’s phenotype is determined by its genotype, which is the set of genes the organism carries on its chromosomes, as well as by environmental influences upon these genes. Due to the influence of environmental factors, organisms with identical genotypes, such as identical twins, ultimately express non-identical phenotypes because each organism encounters unique environmental influences as it develops. Examples of phenotypes include height, sex, hair colour, skin colour, and blood type.
Genes, which are composed of DNA, reside on chromosomes. Each chromosome may contain hundreds to thousands of genes, each relating to some feature of the organism. In different individuals, some genes are the same and others are different, resulting in the wide variety of phenotypes. The closer individuals are related to each other, is the more genes they have in common, and the more they will look alike. This is why DNA analysis can determine paternity and maternity, and other family relationships.
Chromosomes come in pairs. All individuals of the same species have the same number of (pairs of) chromosomes. Dogs have 38 pairs; horses have 32 pairs; donkeys have 31 pairs; cows have 30 pairs; sheep have 27 pairs; pigs have 19 pairs. Peas have seven pairs; rice has six pairs; corn has five pairs and wheat has 21 pairs.
Normally, each cell in the human body has 23 pairs of chromosomes (46 chromosomes in total); half come from the mother, and half come from the father; this is why children resemble each parent in different ways. Two of the chromosomes (called X and Y: the sex chromosomes) determine sex as male or female. Females have two X chromosomes, and males have one X and one Y chromosome. The mother gives one or the other of her X chromosomes to her child, while the father may contribute either an X or a Y. It is the chromosome from the father which determines if a baby is male or female.
SEX IS BINARY
Sex is binary; there are only two: male and female. I cannot determine which sex I wish to be; that is objectively determined by my genetic makeup. If I am born with an X and a Y chromosome, and subjectively I decide I want to be female, that cannot change the objective fact that I am biologically a male. To say otherwise is fake science! It may call for a psychiatrist!
Once the male half (genes in the sperm) and the female half (genes in the egg) merge, the genetic makeup of the new human being is complete. Starting from that initial cell (called a zygote), the cells divide and multiply (a process called mitosis), carefully reproducing the same genetic makeup – the same DNA. Every cell in my body contains the same DNA makeup as when I was conceived in my mother’s womb. And the same goes for you.
Following the science means accepting that a new human being exists from the moment of conception; the genetic makeup of the zygote contains all the information which will guide mitosis to produce first a baby, then a child, and then an adult. Non-human does not become human (what kind of science is that?) The single-cell zygote is fully human in genetic makeup, and has the human right to life, as is/does the clump of cells called the blastula, right along to the foetus which becomes viable and is born.
Sometimes mitosis does not work properly, and genetic abnormalities result; this usually results in miscarriage, but some individuals with genetic abnormalities are born and survive. The rate of genetic abnormality of one kind or another ranges from about two per 1,000 live births in younger women to about 53 per 1,000 live births in middle aged women
About one in 400 male and one in 650 female live births demonstrate some form of sex chromosome abnormality – not common at all!
Following the science accepts that these abnormalities do occur in nature, but acknowledges that they are not normal, as they are the result of errors in mitosis. Trying to argue that the abnormal is normal is unscientific and irrational.
I support the emphasis on STEM education, tempered with training in philosophy and development studies. Healthy Jamaican men and women will form functional families, build a strong economy and a healthy nation.
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and development scientist. Send feedback to [email protected]